Pathetic Ajax stumble to lucky victory at NEC: 0-1
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Holland Casino Eredivisie
De Goffert Stadium, Nijmegen
Sunday, 13 March, 2005
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The results may suggest otherwise (eight away wins in a
row and a 100% score since coach Ronald Koeman stepped
down!), but the second half of the 2004-2005 season
is a calvary for Ajax. The Amsterdammers stumble towards
the finish line of a terrible season. In
Nijmegen's Goffert Stadium the team's plodding and
bungling reached the next level. The travelling supporters
seemed to have cast off all anger and sense of shame. They have
reached the next phase: that of irony, corny jokes
and downright hilarity. "We are the champions!" they
chanted cynically in the dying minutes of the road game at
NEC. The home crowd collectively broke into laughter,
in spite of the fact that their team 'forgot' to equalize:
0-1.
The eventful 51st and 52nd minutes of the match summed it
all up: Hatem Trabelsi (also responsible for Ajax's
only serious shot on goal in the first half: a
thundering 37th minute volley on the fists of goalkeeper
Gentenaar) was mowed down by Arjan Ebbinge. Goalkeeper Dennis
Gentenaar saved Wesley Sneijder's penalty and
Maxwell's rebound, before Hedwiges Maduro slotted home the
second rebound (51'). NEC, however, scored immediately
from kick-off, but Andrzej Niedielan was a step off-side when
he nodded home. A penalty in three instances and a disallowed
goal at the other end... It was typical for the way Ajax ran
off with the three points.
A hug for Bogdan Lobont after he
stopped NEC's penalty. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
The people of Nijmegen are used to watching bad
football: their beloved NEC are having a dreadful
season and lost to RBC Roosendaal last weekend. Yet, the 12,000
at Goffert Stadium must have been flabbergasted by
the sorry excuse for an Ajax team that was trying to play
football in front of them. NEC were everything but impressive
themselves, but created at least three serious chances in the
first half. Barreto's header went inches
wide, as Maarten Stekelenburg was the only Ajax
player to do something right in the first half: he saved
spectacularly on two 100% chances for striker Romano Denneboom,
a face-to-face encounter (15') and a well-taken volley (26').
At the other end, Ajax managed exactly one proper
attack, via Mauro Rosales, which resulted in Trabelsi's volley
on goal.
Ajax (playing with Nigel de Jong as their left fullback and
without Rafaël van der Vaart, who picked up a wrist injury
in training on Saturday) had slightly more
possession after the half-time break, but played even
worse. A teaspoonful of inspiration in the opening
phase proved enough for the opening goal.
Would Ajax ever have scored a 'normal' field goal?
Probably not, although it must be said that the penalty
call was correct. Belgian referee Vandevelde (in
charge of a Dutch fixture as part of an exchange project
between the Dutch and Belgian football associations)
was often erratic, but took correct decisions on the
three most important moments. He was right when
he gave Ajax a penalty (the first one given to Ajax since
15 February 2004 - 37 games ago!), he was right
when he disallowed Niedzielan's goal and he was also
right when he pointed to the penalty spot for the second
time, this time after a rather clumsy foul by Julien
Escudé on Edgar Barreto in the 75th minute.
A struggling Angelos Charisteas.
[Photo: Ajax.nl]
An error by Julien Escudé... The Frenchman
was once again Ajax best outfield player by far and is
literally the only Ajacied to have a good second season half.
The fact that Escudé, of all people, made a
mistake that could have been fatal only shows how bad the
situation was in Nijmegen: literally nothing seemed to
go right. Ajax were unable to string more than two
correct passes together and to the average spectator it must
have been a complete mystery what system they were
playing. Did they play defensively or offensively...?
Who knows? Whatever it was: it did not work.
A random scene from the slapstick show that was the second
half: Nigel de Jong wanted to protect the ball with his body
and let it trickle across the goal-line, but did not pay
attention and allowed Romano Denneboom to steal it from
right under his nose and storm towards goal. Goalkeeper Maarten
Stekelenburg also lost the plot: a few minutes after De Jong's
he clumsily stormed out of his goal and collided
with Denneboom. The Ajax goalie had to be stretchered off
and appears to have sustained a concussion.
The man in goal by the time that Rob Wielaert stepped
forward for NEC's 75th minute penalty was... Bogdan Lobont. The
Romanian replaced Stekelenburg for his first Ajax-1 appearance
since
24 October 2004 and became Ajax's unlikely hero of the
day by punching Wielaert's attempt out of his goal. The Ajax
team celebrated the save with Lobont as if he had just scored.
Ajax survived a couple of bizarre scrimmages in the latter
fifteen minutes of the game and walked off the pitch with the
three points, after a game that - from an Ajax perspective -
was a sort of 'Houdini act'.
"Luck was on our side," admitted coach Ruud Krol after
the game. He added: "We did not play well and failed to show
what we're capable of." It is hardly an exaggeration if we say
that the latter comment pretty much sums up the 2004-2005
season as a whole. In Nijmegen the three gentlemen on
Ajax's left flank (De Jong, Maxwell, Boukhari) were so
painfully inept that the entire flank would have deserved a
substitution at half time. Angelos Charisteas? A Greek tragedy.
Wesley Sneijder? Even worse. Substitute Daniël de Ridder?
He finally got some time to impress the coaches, but
showed no more than three terrible crosses into no man's land.
It was utterly hopeless.
And - there is no escape from it - next weekend's opponent
is PSV. The team that lost only one league game at the
Amsterdam ArenA, the solid outfit that qualified for the
quarter final of the Champions League in impressive style
and brushed ADO Den Haag aside by the score of 4-0
even though they had a bad day. If Ajax beat them the gap
will be 'only' five points, but based on Ajax's play since the
winter break it would be more realistic to fear for a historic
hammering on Amsterdam soil. (MP)
GOAL
Referee: Vandevelde (Belgium)
Yellow card: De Jong (Ajax),
Barreto, Wielaert (NEC)
Attendance: 12,000
Ajax line-up: Stekelenburg (69. Lobont);
Trabelsi, Heitinga, Escudé, De Jong; Sneijder (78.
Lindgren), Maduro, Maxwell; Rosales (71. De Ridder),
Charisteas, Boukhari.
NEC line-up: Gentenaar; Nalbantoglu,
Wisgerhof, Ebbinge, Leiwakabessy; Wielaert, Barreto, Van den
Doelen, Tininho (67. Van den Eede); Denneboom, Niedzielan.
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